Secrets of the Dai Li
by bmsbobcat24
Summary: *An OC ATLA story* When Hok overhears her teacher sharing secrets with the Dai Li, she is thrown into a world of espionage, conspiracies, backstabbing and murders. Not to mention the mysterious boy she keeps running into... Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or the Dai Li. Just the characters and the plot.


**AN: I love Avatar the Last Airbender, but this is the first fanfiction I've written about it. This idea came to me in the middle of a martial arts practice. I'll try to update every week. If I don't update, please understand! Also R&R, favorite, follow, all that good stuff!**

**Every chapter I'll have trivia or a quote from an episode of Avatar the Last Airbender, and you'll have to find out the character and the episode name for the quote. I'll post the answer with the next chapter. So to all the die-hard fans out there like me who have memorized each episode down to the line, I'll have harder quotes later on!**

**So here's the first quote:**

**"I'm A-A-A-ACHOOOO!"**

**-Bobcat**

* * *

"Let's go, Hok, pick it up!" Sifu bellows as I shoot rock chunks at the dummy. My legs ache from my horse stance, and my shoulder muscles scream for a break. With a yell, I fire out ten rapid-fire rock blocks.

"Stop!" Sifu barks. "That's enough for today. I'll see you next session." With a swish of his robe, he disappears inside.

I collapse and lay face down, letting my body rest before I had to continue. Slowly, painfully, I drag myself to my feet and stumble to the well on the other side of the courtyard. I grab the wooden handle and crank up the bucket. Taking a big gulp, I sigh as the water slid down my parched throat. I cup my hands and splash some water onto my face. The water was cold compared to the hot summer day, and it felt good on my fevered skin. Downing the rest of the bucket, I lower it back into the well. I sit down and lean against the well, facing the door. With a long sigh, I close my eyes as a breeze blew by, ruffling my dusty, black hair. The sun was setting, so I have to get going home, before Dad has my head. Dragging myself to my aching feet, I make my way out of Sifu's vast estate and begin the long trek home.

* * *

It's almost a three hour walk from Sifu's estate back to my home. It's not an easy walk either. The path goes right through the mountain side, where you're at risk of an attack by bandits or thieves. Luckily, I have nothing worth stealing, and I can defend myself easily from bandits. People call me desperate when they find out where I learn my earth bending. I can't blame them. A lot of the villagers can earth bend, but they've only learned to use it for useful things, like for building houses and playing "Earth Ball". No one ever thought of learning and mastering the ancient art of true earth bending. Everyone, that is, except for me. Not even my family knows that I travel that far just to learn earth bending.

As I near the village, I see Miku waiting at the entrance. Miku is my trusty fire ferret. She goes almost everywhere with me, except to Sifu's. Next to her stood Nala, my family's armadillo lion. Strange combo, huh? How would a fire ferret and an armadillo lion ever meet, let alone become friends. Well, my dad has this way with animals that just draws them to him. In return, his big heart can't bear to send those animals back to the place where they came from. So our farm is home to exotic animals from all around the Earth Kingdom that just happened to turn up in our backyard. We have assorted hybrid pigs, Ping and Pong the ostrich horses, two badger-moles that turn up every once and a while, a surprisingly friendly boarquepine named Quills, an iguana parrot named Captain, and, of course, Nala the armadillo lion and Miku the fire ferret. Our farm is known as the "zoo", and not just because of the animals. My five younger siblings, fifiteen-year-old Long, twelve-year-old Ling, eight-year-old twins Chung and Mei, and the youngest Ma, who's six. They cause enough trouble around the village as it is.

I run to meet Miku, who greet me with licks and chirps. Sitting atop Nala was my oldest younger brother (how confusing), Long. For a 15-year-old, Long is sure serious. He has shaggy black hair and dark brown eyes. He looks a lot like me. Heck, the whole family looks similar. We all have tan skin (maybe that's just dirt...), brown eyes, and black hair. There are variations within these generalizations, of course. My dad is stockier with bright, playful eyes. My mom is slender and short with kind eyes and a beautiful face. I take after my dad with a stockier, compact earth bender build. For a girl. Long is, well, long and slender, with sharp, watchful eyes and lean muscles.

As I approach, Long narrows his eyes and urges Nala towards me.

"Where have you been?" he demands. "Mom has been freaking out, and Dad is running around like a headless possum chicken!"

"I was in town, buying stuff for Dad and the roof," I say cooly, pushing past Nala and Long and continued down the dirt road to home. I hear Long slip off Nala and run to catch up to me.

"That's total buffalo yak crap. Dad wouldn't be acting this way if that was true. Now," Long stops in front of me, "where were you, really?"

Before I open my mouth to respond, Mei and Ma come running down the path and tackle my legs with armadillo bear hugs.

"Hok!" Mei yells. (She yells a lot.) "I'm so happy you're back! Where were you?"

"Mommy and Daddy are running around like crazy rabaroos!" Ma beams up at me, his missing teeth creating a cute gap in his teeth.

I bend down and boost Ma onto my hip with a grunt. Geez, this kid needed to cut down on the rice bowls!

"I'm sure they are," I chuckle, earning a glare from Long. "So, where are Ling and Chung?"

"They're helping Daddy fix the roof," Mei jumps in. We start walking down the dirt path, Mei's hand in one of my hands, and Ma's in my other. I can feel Long's stare burning a hole in my back from behind me. Mei was chatting on about Ping and Pong's something or other, but I wasn't listening. I was too busy coming up with a good excuse for being away from home for five hours. Certainly not shopping for clothes or food or household items. I'm sure my parents wouldn't approve of me traveling all that ways to learn earth bending. Not to mention the fee for lessons.

When we reach our house, Lin and Chung are indeed helping Dad fix the roof, although in different ways. Chung stands on the ground and tells Dad and Ling where there were weak spots in the roof. Chung is an earth bender, but he uses his earth bending to see instead of to fight. He's blind.

Chung turns to me, having sensed me, and smiles. He yells up to Dad and Ling who slides down off the roof. Dad runs to meet me, while Lin takes his time, waiting for the show.

"Where have you been, Hok?" Dad demands, his face flushed with anger. "We've been worried sick!"

"Later, Dad," I try to shove past him, but he catches my arm and spins me around.

"No, I need an answer now."

"Daddy!" Mei tugs on his shirt.

"Not now, Mei!"

"But Daddy!"

"What is it?" We turned towards Mei, who was facing the dirt road and point down it.

"Ostrich horses," Chung says as he comes to stand next to me. "Five of them."

I hear Ling take the younger ones inside. Long slides off of Nala to come stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the village's top fighting force (the five of us). Chung gives a low whistle, drawing the other men from the village out to join us.

"What do they want?" Dad growled.

"Trouble," I say.


End file.
